Density

Hong Kong's Unique and Vibrant Retail

Retail shopping in Hong Kong is a diverse experience of density, hidden storefronts and extreme visual stimulation, as this tour of the city's shopping areas shows.

May 16, 2011 - Metropolis

Architect/Planner-Turned-Councilman Offers Thoughts on City's Future

An architect takes a seat on the Wet Hollywood City Council, and offers his thoughts on density and parking in the city and where things went wrong.

May 16, 2011 - Architect

Does Density Pay?

Does having more density in a city means more people to pay property taxes, and thus, less of a tax burden on residents? Sam Newberg and a colleague run the numbers.

May 7, 2011 - Joe Urban

Subtle Changes in American Density

Density -- either high or low or somewhere in the middle -- is a key defining element of our cities. In this essay, Witold Rybczynski looks at the relative densities of U.S. cities and suggests that things may start to change subtly.

May 5, 2011 - Wilson Quarterly

Celebrating the Mid-Rise Building

Builder Magazine thinks its time to give the mid-rise (4-6 stories) building its due.

May 1, 2011 - Builder Magazine

Will New Development Make it Better, or Worse?

Development, or no development? Nathan Norris writes that untouched landscapes always rate highly in comparison to development proposals, so it is important to use visual tools that can help quantify the tradeoff and find ways to compensate.

April 22, 2011 - PlaceShakers

Parks Vs. Density

In Toronto, a developer is balking at the zoning that would force him to build a podium-style building out to the sidewalk, and wants to build a park with a tower instead. Can open space and density coexist?

April 15, 2011 - The Trust for Public Land

It's Spring, and the People Are in Bloom

Kaid Benfield gets philosophical about the turn of the seasons, writing that it's "not just nature that renews itself", but the city floods with people that had been hiding inside through the inclement weather.

April 15, 2011 - SustainableCitiesCollective

Demand Grows for Housing That's Smaller and Closer

The demands of the housing market are shifting to smaller homes that are in denser locations and closer to jobs, according to a new survey from the National Association of Realtors.

April 14, 2011 - The Atlantic

Blending Density

Vinayak Bharne proposes that density is often achieved using blunt enforcement of crude tools like "floor-space index", when density can be much more subtly accomplished than just shooting up a tower.

April 10, 2011 - The Urban Vision

Passing A Master Plan in Densityphobic San Francisco

It's urbanists vs. NIMBYs as San Francisco's Planning Commission prepares to vote on a new master plan that calls for more density and more affordable housing.

March 28, 2011 - The San Francisco Chronicle

Making Room for a Planet of Cities

As cities in developing countries expand, is smart growth the right approach? The conclusions of a new report by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy may surprise you.

March 6, 2011 - Gregory K. Ingram

A Taller D.C. Would Mean More Transportation Demand

As some voices in Washington D.C. call for increasing the city's building height limit, The Transport Politic looks at what that might mean for transportation demands in the city.

March 4, 2011 - the transport politic

Attacking the Setbacks of Suburbia

Canada's suburbs don't have to be a problem, according to architect Drew Adams, who proposes a plan to densify them by developing unused space.

March 2, 2011 - The Toronto Star

Back-and-Forth on Downtown Vancouver

The Tyee presents a conversation between two Vancouver urban thinkers about the city's downtown and how some efforts to improve the city's core have worked while others have fallen short.

February 15, 2011 - The Tyee

Pre-America's Biggest City

Per Square Mile recount the history of Cahokia, a Mississipian settlement that was the biggest city in America from about 1250 to 1800.

February 11, 2011 - Per Square Mile

Enough With the 'Enough with Jane Jacobs' Already!

Was Jane Jacobs a NIMBY? Did she despise density? These sort of reevaluations of Jacobs' legacy are hot at the moment. Roberta Brandes Gratz explains why the naysayers are off base.

January 24, 2011 - Roberta Brandes Gratz

Urging Verticality in China's New Cities

Urbanization is taking up a rapid pace in China. Though much of the planning going on is of the cookie-cutter variety, some say the Chinese need to pay more attention to growing their cities vertically.

January 14, 2011 - What Matters

St. Louis County Looks to Mix Uses

Officials in St. Louis are looking to update the county's zoning codes to allow denser housing, and a greater mix of land uses.

January 9, 2011 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

New Governor Moves Into Mixed-Use

California's Governor-elect Jerry Brown will be living part-time in the first modern mixed use project in Sacramento. Jerry's new neighborhood has a WalkScore of 95 and is walkable to the Capitol building.

December 27, 2010 - California Planning & Development Report

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.